Chris Thile and Edgar Meyer

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Chris Thile and Edgar Meyer
Wednesday, October 22, 2008 | 7:30pm
Perelman Theater
Price: $30 and $42

Young and fiercely talented musician Chris Thile joins forces with revered bassist Edgar Meyer to translate the next generation of bluegrass music with jazz improvisation and classical music influences. The duo recently collaborated on the recording of 12 original compositions for the CD Edgar Meyer and Chris Thile, scheduled for release on September 23, 2008. Their North American tour includes a Philadelphia performance at the Kimmel Center’s Perelman Theater on Wednesday, October 22, 2008.

One of the most inventive musicians of his generation, 27-year-old mandolinist Chris Thile has elevated folk and bluegrass repertoire to new levels with jazz and acoustical classical performances. As a member of the popular band Nickel Creek, he won his first Grammy® award for the album This Side in 2002. Thile’s first solo album, Not All Who Wander Are Lost, was released in 2001, followed by a duet album, Into the Cauldron, with Mike Marshall in 2003, and the experimental newgrass album Deceiver in 2004. In 2006, Thile formed How to Grow a Band, recently renamed Punch Brothers, and recorded How to Grow a Woman from the Ground. His most recent album, Punch, includes the ambitious 40-minute suite, “The Blind Leaving the Blind.”

MacArthur Foundation “Genius” Award-winner Edgar Meyer has been recognized by critics and audiences as an innovative composer and vibrant performer. The three-time Grammy® Award-winner has been praised for his virtuosic skill on the double bass as well as his classical range of repertoire. Meyer received wide acclaim for the album Appalachia Waltz (1996) with Yo-Yo Ma and Mark O’Connor, and the follow-up, Appalachia Journey (2000), which won a Grammy® for Best Classical Crossover Album.

“[Chris Thile] may well be the most virtuosic American ever to play the mandolin.”—Washington Post

“The most remarkable virtuoso in the relatively unchronicled history of his instrument.”—New Yorker on Edgar Meyer